Intermodal construction on schedule for 2013 completionfrastructure

Mark Taylor[email protected]
Southwest Johnson County Economic Development Corporation members took part in a bus tour of the construction site following their quarterly luncheon meeting on Sept. 14.
John Hovland, director of marketing and facility development, served as one of the tour guides.
Hovland said the initial construction calls for 48,000 feet of track, 1,810 truck parking spaces, and 4,300 container stacking spots.
That will provide capacity for about 500,000 lifts.
“A lift is taking a container and putting it on a rail car, or taking a container and taking it off of a rail car,” Hovland said.
The Edgerton intermodal – which will replace a smaller facility in Argentine — will be one of two in the country with electric lifting capability.
The facility will use state-of-the-art electric cranes that measure 253 feet wide.
Backup power will be in place in the event of an outage.
“There will be a redundant (electrical) feed,” Hovland said. “There will be feeds from two different transmission stations. When done right, you won’t even know the power went out on the first feed.”
The cranes can complete a lift in about a minute and a half.
Truck drivers can be in and out of the facility in 25 minutes.
“A lot of facilities take an hour or more,” Hovland said.
With initial grading and construction work underway at the complex, the first building on the site is starting to take shape.
The framework for a hostler truck and maintenance building is visible on the east side of the development.

A building for maintenance and hostler trucks is the first structure under construction at the intermodal logistics park. Members of the Southwest Johnson County Economic Development Corporation toured the intermodal logistics park following the organization’s quarterly luncheon on Sept. 14 at Mildale Farm in Edgerton. Staff photo by Mark Taylor

Hovland said the Allen Group, developer of the logistics park portion of the development, is also looking into repurposing a historic stone house on the property.
“The Allen Group is looking into getting permits to occupy the house and using it as a sales center for the logistics park,” he said.
The intermodal logistics park is expected to be open for business in the fourth quarter of 2013.
Construction on a new “divergent diamond” interchange to serve the development is expected to begin early next year.
The interchange — located at Interstate 35 and Homestead Road – is expected to be bid during the third week of December.
Bids are expected to be opened during the third week of January, and construction may be underway by February or March.
KDOT selected the Homestead location after studying other alternatives based on its location between existing interchanges at Gardner and Sunflower roads, because it created the least impact on the surrounding areas, and because it was the least expensive option.
The state will fund the construction.
Daily traffic counts on I-35 between Gardner and Sunflower roads is currently estimated at 25,000 vehicles per day.
By 2040, that number is estimated to reach 64,000 vehicles per day.
The intermodal logistics park is expected to generate more than 17,000 vehicle trips per day, including 7,000 commercial trucks.